Four plates of different summer salads

Em’s Gut Health Journey: The Breakthrough…

ByAnna + Em

It has been a couple of months since my last post and to be honest 2 months ago I was feeling a little disappointed.  I really wasn’t noticing any significant differences in my symptoms – even though I had stuck to my gluten and dairy free dietary changes.

In our follow ups, I was of course very open and honest about this with Carissa, so in short, we agreed it was time for a plan B – now during this time there was always the option of GUT and food intolerance testing, which may have given us a more definitive answer…but to be honest I was happy to continue to play trial and error, was really enjoying my catch ups with Carissa, all the while continuing to expand my own knowledge around nutrition, gut health and the rest!

To keep a long story short, insert FODMAPS…what the?!?!

I had definitely heard of FODMAPS before but really did not know what it actually referred to…as Carissa began to explain this to me, admittedly alarm bells started to ring and I began thinking of ALL the foods I would not be able to eat – NOOOOOOO!

Anywho, I calmed my thoughts and once Carissa briefly explained to me exactly what it meant, I began to realise that it might not be all that bad. So first up let me put in very simple terms what FODMAPs actually means (forgive me for getting a little sciencey!):

Fermentable

Oligo-saccharides

Di-saccharides

Mono-saccharides; And

Polyols

FODMAPs are described as a large group of dietary sugars that can be poorly absorbed in the small intestine and fermented by bacteria to produce gas. Current research strongly suggests that this group of sugars contributes to IBS symptoms. Source: Monash University

Now, you won’t lose marks if you have absolutely NO IDEA what foods contain what sugars, because let’s be honest, that sh%t all sounds too confusing!  But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Carissa advised me to download this handy app created by Monash University. BOOM!

For us lay-folk (i.e. non experts) there is not real rhyme or reason to the categorisation of FODMAP foods, however the app developed by Monash and clearly outlines what foods are high in FODMAP and what foods are low in FODMAP – EASY PEASY!

Of course knowledge is the easy part and perhaps the not so easy part was to make those changes by omitting high FODMAP foods for low FODMAP foods…again a process of sorts, but really no big deal. Swapping an apple for an orange or sweet potato for some pumpkin really isn’t going to start world war 3…so I just did it! Although I did mourn my precious sweet potato for a short while…boo hoo!

BUT I am sure glad made the commitment…after one week I was feeling completely different – so much more regular, little to no gas and the bloating had all but disappeared. I kept pinching myself, was this really working? Was I really feeling this good? Then week 2 rolled around and again the feeling continued…

By this stage I was convinced I must have a food intolerance, which I thought was fine and something I could easy manage going forward…to my surprise it goes a little deeper than that and has more to do with GUT bacterial imbalance than the actual foods themselves!

BUT I’ll save that for the next post (ooo the suspense, haha!)…until then!

Em xx

In case you missed them, you can read Em’s Previous Gut Health Journey Posts here: My Gut Health Journey Part 1 + My Gut Health Journey Part 2: The follow up 

Similar Posts

large group of women doing exercise together in the park
|

We all need to Move more – Here are our 5 sure-fire tips to get you going!!

ByAnna + Em

We LOVE February because it means FitFEB!  FitFEB is about trying to live active.  It is a commitment to exercise every day for at least 20 mins per day for the month of February for better health – yes, every single day – after all, it is only 28 days!!  

image of hands holding
|

Women’s Health Week: Let’s Talk Periods

ByAnna + Em

It is Women’s Health Week, so let’s talk periods!  Our menstrual cycle (or period) is the hormonal process a woman’s body goes through each month to prepare for a possible pregnancy. Regular menstrual periods in the years between puberty and menopause are usually a sign that your body is working optimally. Irregular or heavy, painful periods can be a sign that it is not.

Em doing hip stretch on exercise ball
|

Health: The POWER of a Women’s Health Physio – the key to your pelvic health awareness!

ByAnna + Em

How is your Pelvic Health? If you have never taken the time to really think about your pelvic or abdominal health, we are here to tell you why it should be a priority! How a simple visit to a Women’s Health Physio could be the key to understanding your Pelvic Health and prevent any potential long term issues.

large group of women celebrating, post training
| |

Fitness: FitFeb – Halfway point – Tips and Tricks to help get you moving each day.

ByAnna + Em

Half way through February and more importantly, FitFeb. Did you take our challenge of finding 20 minutes to be more active during your day, every day for the month? Easy, right? Maybe not so much… here are some of our top tips to getting it done. Less than two weeks to go, girls – let’s do this!